Recent Comments

1. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   For newer fans, this isn’t the first time Chester Gould, or an ink-on-paper facsimile thereof, has appeared in the strip. In December 1984 Locher drew Gould as the minister who married Lizz and Groovy Grove on the latter’s deathbed, and of course in 1949 Gould himself gave the villainous P.S. (Pear-Shape) Tone his own face. On top of that, Big Frost was originally a caricature of Gould’s mentor and original editor, Captain Joseph Meddill Patterson of the Chicago Tribune, making the last two panels today even more… interesting. ;^)

2. about 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   AFAIK, “Beak Lawson” is a name invented for this retelling; however, the original story did have Tracy going undercover as an out-of-town gangster to infiltrate Big Boy’s mob, so perhaps Joe & Mike are fleshing out that plot point a bit more.

3. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   “Jackie Steele” is more than just an alias — it’s Junior’s actual birth name.

4. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Is it just me, or in that last panel, does Honey Moon bear a passing resemblance to Usagi Tsukino (of Sailor Moon fame)?

5. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Junior, to the best of my knowledge, was never officially made an officer or a detective (unless you count when Chief Brandon made him “Secret Operative Number Two” back in the ’30s, when he was still just Tracy’s “boy sidekick”). However, during the Collins/Fletcher storyline that killed off Moon Maid, he was shown to keep a .38 snub-nose pistol that was implied to be department issue. Not sure if it proves anything one way or another, but there’s that at least.

   Also, to whoever said this story was “better than anything from the last 32 years”: Wow. I know it’s fashionable to hate on Locher, and for good reason, but was the stuff he did with Collins really that bad? I don’t happen to think so myself, but then, the Collins/Locher era was my introduction to the strip back in the ’80s – specifically, the Pruneface return from ‘83 – so maybe I’m biased. Still, it does seem kind of a harsh generalization that everything Locher touched was automatically garbage because he was involved in it…

6. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   If you print “ASK FOR I.D.” in large block letters on the back of your card, it leaves no room for someone else to forge your signature. That’s what I do with all my cards, and it works.

   On the other hand, it only works for in-person purchases. If someone who stole your card buys from Amazon or another online retailer the “ASK FOR I.D.” trick won’t help you at all. That’s why it’s worth it to get those account-protection plans… it did save my hide when my own card was lost.

7. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   The device Tracy’s wearing today is clearly a 2-Way Wrist TV (1964-1986). What happened to the GeeNee?

8. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   One question I have…

   We all know Max Collins hated the SF stuff, to the point that one of the first things he did when he took over the strip was blow up Moon Maid, after which he spent the next 13 years pretending the whole “Space Period” never happened. We also know that Gould was obliged by the bounds of reality to retreat back to Earth once the Apollo program definitively invalidated his interpretation of the Moon, though he did keep the Space Coupe and Air Cars around for at least a few years after 1969. But whether under Gould or Collins – or for that matter Mike Killian – was there ever any sort of in-strip explanation as to why the Space Coupe et al stopped appearing? Diet’s line in the last panel suggests there was at least a passing reference to it at some point.

9. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

   Patton virtually always wore his Chief’s hat when Gould drew him, and Rick Fletcher as well. It was only in the last few years Locher featured him that he began to be seen without it more often. Maybe this is nothing more than Staton & Curtis trying to bring back some of that Gould flavor to the strip.

   The reference to Johnny Scorn came way out of left field for me, and it was much appreciated. That may have been the last truly great story Gould ever did, a rare bright spot of his later days. (As others have pointed out – correctly, if you ask me – Locher’s creative enfeeblement in the last years of his own career was very similar to Gould’s. If the Internet had been around in 1976, you can bet Gould would’ve been raked over the coals for his stuff just as much as Locher was for his.)

   I too am wondering where this Space Coupe business is going. (Hopefully not back to Moon Valley; my suspension of disbelief can only handle so much!) Was this part of the MCS tribute strips?

10. over 13 years ago on Dick Tracy

    Now the big question is, is the Space Period paraphernalia actually back, or are the Space Coupe and Air Car just making a cameo to set up the next great Diet Smith breakthrough? (I point you to the “looks like you’re going to have company” line.)

    For myself personally, I’m hoping it’s the latter. I’m one of those who never was a big fan of that era of the strip (feeling it represents the period when Gould finally lost his mind), but on the other hand maybe Staton and Curtis can change my opinion. I’m perfectly willing to be proven wrong.